


by any other name

by LovesBitca8



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Universe, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Heavy Angst, Mutual Pining, Prompt Fic, TWO IDIOTS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 11:36:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20741576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovesBitca8/pseuds/LovesBitca8
Summary: While out on a mission, Rey is taken by a bounty hunter who doesn’t know she’s the last Jedi, because Rey gives her last name as ‘Solo’.The new Supreme Leader is made aware, and is very curious to know why Rey’s giving his old last name as hers.





	by any other name

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Reylo_prompts on Twitter for feeding us all the goods! Thanks to monsterleadmehome for the moodboard.

"I'm thinking about taking her name," Finn said to her one afternoon as they worked on a compressor engine together.

"Taking it?" Rey said distractedly, tugging at the wrench. "Taking it where?"

"You know… Tico. On some planets they do that. And… and I don't have a name to offer her… so…"

As the bolt loosened, it clicked in Rey's mind. Rose and Finn had announced their engagement a few weeks ago. The wedding was the day after tomorrow.

And Finn wanted to be Finn Tico.

Rey slid out from under the engine, sitting up to stare at him. "Really?"

"Yeah, I mean… I've never had a family. Rose will be my family. We should have a family name." He said it all very slowly, but as if he'd already decided. Finn looked at her from where he knelt over the toolbox. His lips turned downwards, and he said, "You don't like it?"

Rey looked away. The idea of him asking her opinion on this was very strange. He didn't ask Rey's opinion when he proposed, so to consult her now felt like there was something else he was trying to say. She wiped the grease off her hands and reached for her canteen, buying herself some time.

She liked Rose. Probably. She didn't know her as well as she could have. Once she'd healed from her injuries on Crait, and the resistance had found a new haven on the tropical planet Monu, Rose and Finn were inseparable. It was hard to get to know someone who hung like a persistent stench around the only person Rey had ever felt connected to—

_Not the only person_, the dark voice inside of her whispered. It always sounded like him, but she knew that she'd severed the bond a year ago.

But Ben Solo was gone. Instead, there was Supreme Leader Kylo Ren.

Sometimes she liked to think that he'd died on the Supremacy—that the blast from the broken lightsaber had killed them both.

She turned back to Finn. "I think it's very sweet. But maybe you should be talking to Rose about this? It's her name, after all."

Finn nodded, playing with the drill bits and twirling them through his fingers. It was quiet for a moment. And then he said, "I'm just excited, I guess. To have a family."

It hit Rey like a slap to her face. She twitched.

"You think a name gives you a family?" she said sharply.

Finn looked up at her, realizing his mistake. "No, no. I just—"

"I don't have a family name either." She stood, feeling the anger simmering under her skin. "But the Resistance is my family now. _You_ are my family. Choosing a new surname doesn't make you a part of that _family_—"

"But it does, Rey." He came to his feet, dropping the bits. They clattered to the floor as he said, "In some planets—some star systems—it does. You take the name of your partner, and you join houses."

"We didn't have _houses_ on Jakku," she snarled. "So, I guess I'll stick to 'Rey From Nowhere' for the rest of my life."

She stomped out the hangar doors, hot tears brimming. When Finn called after her, she used the Force to slam the hangar doors shut behind her.

~*~

Rey shared a bunk with Kaydel and Rose on the Monu base. Rose was always timid around her, trying to stay out of her space and not bump into her coming in and out of the 'fresher. Kaydel was rarely in the bunk when they got ready for bed, usually sneaking in late from a pilot's quarters. Rose was the quietest Rey had ever heard her at night when it was just the two of them.

So it was rather startling to hear an "Umm… Rey? Are you awake?" from the bunk below.

"Barely," her gravelly voice replied.

"Sorry. Umm. I just… Well, in the ceremonies on Hays Minor, usually there is a friend—er, a witness, I guess—who is there on behalf of the bride and groom—or maybe sometimes two people, one for each—and this person is—is like a, um… friend? Or supporter? Or…"

Rey frowned at the ceiling, waiting.

"I'm only asking because—because my sister is gone. And she would have—I mean, it's not like you're second choice or anything. You clearly mean a lot to Finn, too—"

"You want me to be the witness?"

Rose took a breath for the first time. "Yes."

Rey pulled at the frayed edge of the thin blanket covering her waist. "What do I have to do?"

"Nothing. Just stand there with us. And when the officiant asks,"—her voice deepened and rounded theatrically—"'Who is here on behalf of this couple,' you raise your hand."

Rey swallowed. _Here on behalf of the couple._

"I can do that."

"Really?" A small voice squeaked from underneath her.

A day later Rey stood next to Finn in one of Leia's old gowns, watching as Rose cried when Finn promised himself to her with an old Adleraanian wedding vow.

Finn reached out his hand. And when Rose slid her own into his, Rey thought of leather gloves and walls on fire… the entire galaxy resting before her.

She raised her hand at the right moment. And the look of joy that Rose sent her made Rey want to ask if she could be a Tico too.

The next day, the couple left for a short trip, and Rey left for a solo mission to the Kashyyyk System, telling Leia she needed some time alone.

~*~

The Supreme Leader stood at his windows on the Finalizer, watching the stars zoom by with a dizzy haze. The Outer Rims were putting up a fight against Hux's new campaign. The campaign he had signed off on.

He'd given up on locating the Resistance. They'd be found the next time they had an ingenious plan against the First Order. Until then, he had a galaxy to govern.

The battle cruiser left hyperspace with a hum, and he spun on his heel, marching to the hangar. They were visiting Jakku today. And he needed to keep his head focused.

"Supreme Leader."

He paused his steps at the droid's voice, turning his neck to locate it.

The black bot rolled toward him, just out of range of the swipe of his saber. "The Jedi Temple in Alaris Prime. You wanted to be alerted immediately if Rango Ten captured anyone at the temple."

Kylo's fingers twitched. "Yes?"

"A human woman. Going by Solo."

His ribs pulled right. The burst of excitement was tempered with confusion. With his pounding heart beat in his ears, he reached out for his data pad. The droid rolled forward and gave it to him.

_Human female. 20 standard years. Found carrying a lightsaber—_

He took a deep breath and handed back the pad.

Even as he adjusted his coordinates in his private ship, he rationalized that this could be a trap. Even as Hux's pasty projected face screamed at him that he was needed on Jakku, he knew this would be an excellent way to lure him away from the First Order. Even as he hit lightspeed, he knew that "Solo" was given to orphans and nameless enlisters.

He knew all this, and he didn't care.

~*~

Rey tugged at her binders again, glaring out the windows of the small building she was being held in. It was useless to fight, but still she tried. She couldn't remember the last time she's been so reckless. There'd been no reason for her introspective moment that had cost her her freedom.

But she'd made a fire pit. And she'd thought of the last time she'd sat near a fire, clutching a robe around herself for warmth.

She hadn't even heard the bounty hunter in the forest behind her. The blaster had stunned her, and she'd woken up cuffed and tied. The mask had floated into her field of vision first, and the rough metallic voice had set her nerves on edge, a reminder of being strapped into a different chair, with a different mask watching her.

"What were you doing at the Jedi Temple?"

"I was lost," she lied. "I was just making camp for the night—"

"Where did you get this?" The bounty hunter held up her lightsaber. And Rey knew she was finished.

She reached for the Force, trying to break her bindings, but they were Force-dampening.

"Name?" the bounty hunter demanded.

Rey licked her lips. "Kira."

"'Kira' what?"

"I'm nobody," she echoed, words from a year ago dancing through her mind. "I'm no one."

"What is your family name, Kira Nobody?"

And maybe it was because last night she'd dreamt of the gloved hand that reached for her, the "please." Maybe it was because she woke wondering if he would have given her a surname if she had taken his hand.

"Solo."

~*~

Kylo Ren's shuttle touched down on Alaris Prime hours later. He'd instructed Rango Ten to hold her there. And to keep the Force-dampening cuffs on her.

He strode through the terrain, the Force taking him to the bounty hunter. He couldn't feel _her_ through the Force, but his body was thrumming, hoping she'd slipped—hoping she'd misstepped somehow and gotten captured.

Or maybe she'd wanted to be here. With him.

Rango Ten met him with a genuflection and a "Supreme Leader," before taking him to the small room where the prisoner was held.

He longed for his mask. But he'd gotten rid of it entirely.

The doors hissed open, and Rey jumped to her feet, eyes widening and fists curling under the cuffs. He paused in the doorway. His skin itched, and his Force signature stretched, reaching for hers. Watching her eyes dart in every possible direction and her chest heave for air, he drank her in with starving eyes.

"Supreme Leader Ren," Rango Ten said, breaking the silence with her modulated voice. "The bounty for a suspect infiltrating the Jedi Temple is—"

Kylo reached for the data pad in the bounty hunter's hands, giving his seal of approval to the transfer of credits. His eyes barely left Rey to examine the pad, but it was clear Rango Ten had no idea who it was she'd caught. The price for the last Jedi was significantly higher than whatever Kylo had just signed away.

Rango Ten bowed swiftly, handed Kylo the lightsaber, and exited, closing the door behind her.

The silence felt heavy, his heartbeat the only sound he could hear.

"I didn't know the Supreme Leader himself came to negotiate with bounty hunters." Her voice was low and calm. How did she manage it when he felt so electrified?

He tilted his head and said, "He does when they've caught his wife."

She swallowed, and he watched her face pale.

Looking down at the lightsaber — the one they had quarreled over — he turned it over in his hands and murmured, "Or are you meant to be my sister? Perhaps a child Han Solo never knew about?"

She turned abruptly, pacing to the one small window and peering out to the forest, facing away. "What do you plan to do with me?"

"That depends." He let the words hang between them. "On why you chose 'Solo.'"

Her shoulders moved with the deep breath she took. His eyes danced along her spine, hoping she could feel it. Pink spots sprouted on her neck, the exact spots he'd had dreams of kissing as he took her from behind, hovering over her as he pressed her into a thick mattress.

He focused on the twitching muscle in her jaw, and said, "Clearly, you had some purpose. If you wanted my attention, you have it—"

"No." She turned halfway, still looking away from him. "No, it was a mistake."

"A mistake," he repeated, his teeth and tongue hissing and clacking on the consonants. He felt as if she was speaking about more than just the chosen name. "So, you really were captured by a bounty hunter." She stared at the wall, unmoving. "Are you ill?"

Spinning to him, she took a deep breath that pulled her tunic tightly across her clavicles and breasts. "What's next? What do you plan to do with me next?"

His mind spun in different directions, imagining the things he could do to her. Do _for _her. Her hands already bound conveniently. The cuffs suppressing her Force abilities. Their eyes connected and he didn't need to hide his thoughts. The bond was empty without the Force on her side. He stopped himself from sliding his eyes over her, as much as he wanted to savor the closeness of her body again.

The truth was, he had no plan. Seeing her again had been the plan. Being this close to her skin and scent again had been the plan. But what was he supposed to do with her if she didn't want him. It would be dangerous to bring her back with him—to put her in a cell as a bargaining chip—to know she was there on the ship, a distraction waiting to happen. And it would only encourage her ill opinion of him.

Swallowing, he said, "I suppose if it was a mistake, then there's nothing more to say."

Her eyes widened, and she took a shallow breath. With a flick of his fingers the cuffs unclicked and dropped to her feet. A wave of her passed to him through the bond like a sweet wind on a hot day. She cut it off and stared at him, waiting.

Stepping to the side, he moved from the doorway and used the Force to slide open the durasteel. With a cautious slowness, he placed her lightsaber on the small table in the corner.

She waited two seconds before diving for the lightsaber and sprinting out the doors.

~*~

When Finn and Rose were caught a few months later as they were rounding up support from old friends of Leia's, the council room was full of people strategizing the best course of action, the best attack, the best negotiation. Rey sat very still, listening to the chatter, waiting for someone to bring up a better option than the one swimming through her head:

_What if they asked nicely?_

Leia was staring at her. She was tired and grey, not only in hair but in skin.

Rey knew what she had to do.

That night, she stole an X-wing and headed to the Sith Temple on Mustafar. A bounty hunter was waiting for her there with a quick draw of a blaster.

"State your name," his voice rumbled.

"Rey Solo."

~*~

Hux advised against a short trip to Mustafar, citing that it was on the other side of the galaxy, and the resistance could attack at any moment, and _why_ do you _want_ to go there _now_?

The message had come in just before he turned in for bed. He'd given all bounty hunters stationed at the Temples a direct route to his data pad, telling them to alert him immediately if someone was captured.

So when his pad pinged as he finally unbuckled his robes, he growled, reaching for it and reading:

_One Rey Solo captured. Mustafar._

He was on his ship not five minutes later.

~*~

The fortress at Mustafar was terrifying to behold. Rey had never seen anything as dark and twisted as this planet, and as she was shoved into a chair, cuffs behind her back now, she felt the darkness twisting under the core of the planet, even without her connection to the Force.

It made the bounty hunter more aggressive. It made her own darkness spin. And she regretted choosing this location for her next encounter with Kylo Ren as the sound of a shuttle landing softly on the obsidian strip reached them.

The bounty hunter stood tall, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the First Order, but when the Supreme Leader marched through the open doors, Rey watched the man twitch, his mouth gaping open, and drop to one knee in fealty. There was a babbling of praise and supplication from the scrappy man's lips, but Kylo Ren's eyes were on her as he reached for the data pad and signed his name for the transfer of credits.

They listened to the hum of the bounty hunter's engine as he fired up and entered the stratosphere. Once there was silence, Kylo released her cuffs. She stood, giving her wrists a quick rub, and his eyes caught on the movement.

"Hello, Rey Solo."

The flow of the Force through her felt like an oil being poured slowly over her skin, and she recognized the return of the darkness in her blood.

It didn't tap into her anger. But as she stared at him from across a deserted fortress — the only two people for miles — the dark side flirted with her desire, like a cat batting at a mouse.

She cleared her throat and began, "I am here to negotiate—"

"—negotiate terms for the release of your friends."

Swallowing, she nodded.

His eyes didn't stray from her as he paced around the wide room. "And what is it the Resistance is planning to barter with?" When he planted his feet, he tilted his head and said, "What are you willing to give me?"

The Dark Side whispered to her. And she wondered how it affected him.

"That's what I'm here to negotiate."

His lips twitched and he said, "And have you been trained in negotiation? Have the rebels decided you are more of a politician than a Jedi?"

"The Resistance doesn't know I'm here," she said, and as soon as it was out of her mouth she realized he already knew that. "I figured that I had a direct line to the Supreme Leader of the First Order. I knew how to get his attention."

"There is a bond for that. There is a door in your mind you only need to open."

She knew this. She considered this. She decided against this and now she couldn't remember why.

_But I wanted to see you. I wanted to know if 'Rey Solo' meant something to you as well._

And something about the planet must have cracked the door between their minds, because she watched him swallow as if he'd heard a whisper of what she was thinking.

"What do you want in exchange for the prisoners," she breathed. Her skin was itching and tight.

He watched her closely for several moments before pulling his data pad from his robes and punching a code into the screen. He turned it and extended it to her.

Moving through a fog, she stepped closer to him and took the pad. She gasped, seeing Finn and Rose in separate cells — a security feed. Just then, the doors to the cells lifted, and she watched Finn convince Rose to make a run for it with him.

"Whether he's smart enough to make it out from there… that's left to be determined."

When she looked up to Ben, his eyes were on her. "What do you want in exchange?" she asked again.

His eyes were a deep amber when he said, "Tell me why you chose my old name."

Her heart pounded and her throat went dry. She could appreciate the subtle manipulation. He'd already given her what she wanted. Now, she had no choice but to answer.

"I never had one — a last name, I mean. When the bounty hunter demanded one of me, I suggested one."

"You have a plethora of surnames at your disposal. What made you choose Solo?"

Her lips opened and closed before she tried, "Would you rather I had chosen something else?"

"Don't avoid the question," he said, and she turned her eyes down to her feet, wishing away this ache. "Are you unaware of the meaning of taking another's last name?"

She wanted to nod and claim ignorance. She wanted to run away.

"No, I am aware," she answered, eyes still downcast.

She watched his feet step closer, his breath against her ear as he murmured, "This is what I offered you. This is what you refused a year ago—"

"No." Her eyes snapped up to his. "Kylo Ren offered me his hand, and I refused. Ben Solo never asked me."

He blinked down at her, looking lost. Something in his eyes steeled, and he said, "Ben Solo is gone. There is only the Supreme Leader now."

Rey looked between his eyes and took a deep breath. "Then I suppose I am a widow."

She lifted a brow and pushed passed his solid shoulder, walking out the doors and back to her ship.

~*~

A month later, General Hux staged a coup — as Kylo always knew he would. The First Order was split into factions, and the Resistance had taken the opportunity to attack. He couldn't be sure if it was the exhaustion of the position, the split through his heart like the split across his skin, or the dream he had of Rey the night before — glowing and moaning for "Ben" — but he took his shuttle and disappeared, leaving the First Order to Hux.

He sold his ship with a mind trick, and from his quarters in a Corellian inn, he watched as the First Order burned to the ground and the Resistance stepped in. His mother, frail as she was, stood victorious over the galaxy, with Rey by her side.

Good. That was good.

He came home from the bustling market one afternoon, ready to plan for where he'd go next. Perhaps Naboo.

He punched his code into the data pad to enter his quarters, and a red light flashed and a negative tone beeped. He frowned. The same thing when he tried again.

A passing droid stopped and examined him like he was a petty criminal in the hallway. His fingers curled, and he wished he could crumble the metal and wires, but he'd been so careful to cut himself off from the Force.

"Sir?" the metallic voice of the droid droned.

"Is there a reason my code isn't working?" he hissed.

"Perhaps you are at — you are at the wrong room." The droid twitched, like a gear was stuck, or it had been tampered with. "Yes, it seems — seems Room 8478 belongs to a 'Rey Solo.'"

He stared down at the malfunctioning droid — tampered with either by the Force or by a skilled mechanic. Feeling his heartbeat in his fingertips, he turned back to his door, knowing exactly what was waiting for him on the other side. A muttered 'thank you' to the droid, and Ben raised his fist to knock.

The door opened with the Force, sliding to the side to reveal a scavenger sitting on his countertop, eating his fruit and grains. She lifted a brow at him and took a deep bite of the jogan fruit in her fingers, letting her eyes drift down the inconspicuous wardrobe he'd chosen for his exile.

"Hello, wife."

Her lashes fluttered at him as she chewed. When she swallowed, she said, "You chose to run instead of choosing a side."

He anticipated this. It still dug in like a knife. "You all succeeded even so."

She licked the juices dribbling down her hand, and his eyes caught on her tongue as it swept up the sweetness. "Don't you want to know how I found you?"

He shook his head. "I'm more interested in why you looked."

Tossing the remains of the fruit into the trash bin, she jumped off the counter and moved toward the small table meant for meals. She flipped through the paperwork and maps he kept there. He knew she'd already gone through it all.

"The rumor is that Kylo Ren is dead." She turned her head back towards him. "I came to see for myself."

He felt the Force tugging on him, her proximity pulling at the bond and begging him to connect again to that stream of life. It returned slowly, like a hole in the wall of a dam.

"And what have you discovered?" he asked, ready to continue this game for as long as she liked.

She moved towards him, stopping when she was just out of arm's reach. She folded her hands in front of herself, searching him. "I haven't found a trace of him. Not even his lightsaber." Her eyes flickered down to his belt, from which it was also absent. He'd thrown it out the airlock on his journey away from the Finalizer. "But _you_ are here," she whispered.

He swallowed, knowing what she was asking. "I can't tell you what you want to hear. I don't think I am either of them anymore."

She nodded in understanding. The flow of her Force signature curled his fingers in want. She had juice still on her lips, and her eyes were greener than the whole planet.

"I think I'll keep Solo," she said, letting her eyes drift down to his lips and back. "If that's alright with you."

His breath stuck in his throat, and his jaw rolled with words he wanted to say to her, the promises he wanted to make. Eyes still catching on her wet lips, probably sticky with fruit juice and sweet with other things, he said, "I give it freely," echoing a vow from his mother's home planet.

Her chest rose and fell sharply, a flush rising to her collarbones. His eyes fell back to her lips.

"As much as I love jogan fruit," she said, "I didn't eat it for _me._"

His eyes snapped up to hers, her teasing gaze matching her tone. He stepped closer, away from the doorway, and slowly reached to cup her cheek. Her neck looked so small to him, so fragile.

Pressing softly to the corner of her mouth where the purple fruit had left an inky stain, Ben kissed away the juice with slow lips and a careful tongue. When he pulled back to check with her, her eyes had fluttered closed and her uneven breath was shallow and hypnotic. His other hand rose, placing soft fingers along her neck as he stepped closer, tilting her head back.

Her hands drifted to his elbows as he pressed inside of her mouth, the taste of her exploding on his tongue.

In all his daydreams and fantasies about this moment, he had never assumed it would be slow. He thought he'd need to keep her close, to beg for her, to seduce her. He'd never assumed it would be her who seduced him.

Her arms wound around his neck when his hands moved to her waist. By the time he'd carried her the few steps toward his bed, the juice had been cleaned from her mouth and tongue, and the sweetness was just her. He hovered over her on the thin mattress and continued kissing her even as his breath fought against her lips.

She unbuckled him, tugging at his tunic shirt and sliding down his trousers. When her legs wrapped around his hips he groaned and rolled forward against her, making her squeak and gasp. He undressed her slowly, kissing down her shoulders and breathing hot air over her breasts until she begged him to kiss them. Her trousers were left forgotten around her calves when he saw her cunt for the first time. She kicked, trying to remove the pants, but he stared down at the core of her and pushed her knees all the way open, ignoring her efforts.

Just moments ago he thought he'd discovered what he'd like to be doing for the rest of his life — kissing Rey. But as his lips descended and his tongue ran through her folds, the gasp and the tight fingers in his hair changed his mind. A velvet heat awaited him, and his tongue slipped across her cunt until he found the bud he'd only read about. She curled in on him, panting "_Ben_" until she screamed. When she fell boneless to the bed, he licked up her juices and finally returned to undressing her.

"Is that alright?" she asked as he finished with her boots. She sat up on her elbows and hummed, "That I called you Ben?"

He stared up at her from his place on his knees. "Yes. Is that who you want me to be?"

She sat up and ran her fingers through his hair. Her chest was pink and her breasts were bare for his eyes to devour.

"That's for you to decide," she replied. She leaned forward to kiss him, and he delved into her mouth again until they were skin to skin, his length rubbing tantalizing through her folds.

"Is this new? For you?" He tried to vocalize his hesitance as he kissed her collarbones and shifted his hips over hers.

"Yes," she said, and he felt something inside of him sing and cower at the same time.

"It doesn't have to…" he tried. "We don't—I don't need this from you, if you—"

Her hand cupped his cheek and she bit her lip before responding, "I give it freely."

He felt the words in his blood. The vow of his ancestors. And she hummed it like she knew. Like she knew that she would be Rey Solo forever.

When he pushed inside of her, and cursed at the tight heat threatening to pull something from him, he listened to her gasps turn to moans, he felt her digging nails turn to trailing fingertips, he saw her tight features relax into heady pleasure, and he wondered if he might like to be Ben Solo again.

She gasped his name again as she came, tears in her eyes, and lips on his mouth, and he wanted to choose it again, for the sake of the girl who had chosen him.


End file.
